NFL Recap (New Orleans-San Francisco)
Posted: Mon November 23, 1998 at 1:47 a.m EST
SAN FRANCISCO 31, NEW ORLEANS 20
SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- Steve Young threw four
touchdown passes as the San
Francisco 49ers overcame another slow start to post a franchise-record
14th straight home win, 31-20 over the New Orleans Saints.
Young completed 22-of-31 passes for 290 yards as the 49ers (8-3)
bounced back from last Sunday's devastating loss to Atlanta, which dropped
them one game back of the Falcons (9-2) in the NFC West. Young also gained
35 yards on the ground to join Minnesota's Randall Cunningham as the
only quarterbacks in NFL history to rush for over 4,000 yards.
A one-yard touchdown run by quarterback Kerry Collins gave the
Saints a 10-0 lead with 34 seconds left in the first quarter. But the next
two scores were a pair of eight-yard touchdown passes from Young to Terrell Owens in the
second quarter and San Francisco never trailed again.
"Patience won this game today," Young explained. "I talked earlier in
the season about being aggressive and patient at the same time. Sometimes,
you have to back off and as soon as we got patient, we started to really
move the football."
The 49ers faced a double-digit deficit for the eighth time in their
last 10 games, storming back to win for the third time in that span. Last
weekend, they were unable to dig out of an early 24-6 hole against the
Falcons.
"We never planned on getting down by 10 points. This is becoming all
too familiar," said 49ers coach Steve Mariucci. "While that is frustrating
for everybody in this stadium, we are finding a way to get ourselves turned
around."
Young also threw an 81-yard TD bomb to running back Garrison Hearst and an
eight-yard scoring strike to Jerry Rice, who has caught
a pass in an NFL-record 188 consecutive contests.
Hearst had four receptions for 103 yards and added 90 yards on 25
carries for San Francisco, which has won 14 straight at 3COM Park since a
loss to Carolina on December 8th, 1996.
Mariucci improved to 13-0 at home in the regular season, matching
former Oakland Raiders
coach John Madden for the best home start by an NFL coach.
Collins, making his second straight start for the Saints, was 22-of-44
for 328 yards but picked off twice. Sean Dawkins had eight
receptions for 148 yards but lost a pair of fumbles.
"A fumble here, an interception there, a dropped pass or two, all that
adds up to missed opportunities," Collins said. "You must capitalize on
your opportunities against a good team like the 49ers."
"The offense was more wide open and that's good, because Kerry has the
talent to deliver the ball downfield," Dawkins noted. "We just have to be
more sound with what we do. We're going to be better as a team as time
goes on, we just hurt ourselves today."
The Saints (5-6) fell one game behind Arizona in the race for the
NFC's final wild-card spot and suffered their sixth straight loss to the
Niners. New Orleans has lost 10 of the last 11 meetings in this series.
"We're not in their class right now," Saints coach Mike Ditka
admitted. "We're not there yet, but we'll get there. The gap is closing,
and it will close totally by next year."
Trailing 31-13 early in the fourth quarter, the Saints faced fourth
down at San Francisco's 1-yard line. Rather than take the sure field goal,
Ditka opted to go for the end zone. But Collins' pass over the middle was
incomplete, wasting a 79-yard drive that took over seven minutes.
Young had a 15-yard run and a 19-yard pass to Rice in the ensuing
drive as San Francisco took nearly 7 1/2 minutes off the clock. Collins
was intercepted on the next possession but got another chance with 3:32 to
go and led the Saints 61 yards in 10 plays, handing off to Aaron Craver for a
one-yard score with 82 seconds remaining.
But the ensuing onsides kick went to 49ers running back Terry Kirby,
who returned it to the New Orleans 4 before the 49ers ran out the clock.
"Stopping them on the 1-yard line was one of the defining moments in
the game," Mariucci added. "Then our offense came out and got a couple
first downs and chewed off a lot of the clock, and that pretty much took
control of the game."
J.J. Stokes made
six catches for 72 yards, Owens caught four for 42 and Rice three for 27 as
San Francisco racked up 443 yards of total offense.
Things went the Saints' way early, with Doug Brien booting a
47-yard field goal on the game's first possession. Two plays later, safety
Chad Cota intercepted
Young and returned it nine yards to the San Francisco 27. But Niners
safety Merton Hanks
returned the favor, picking off Collins at the 7.
The first half consisted of five turnovers, three by the 49ers. But
New Orleans ended up committing four turnovers and San Francisco did not
turn it over in the second half.
Collins completed a 25-yard pass to Keith Poole to set up his
quarterback keeper that made it 10-0. After Young and Dawkins traded
fumbles, San Francisco got on the board as Young hit Owens in the end zone
with 5:30 left before halftime.
"I just wanted an opportunity to get involved in the offense," Owens
said. "That's the way to utilize all three receivers, and I've been taking
the same approach since Week One."
After Brien missed a 53-yard field goal, Young drove the 49ers 57
yards in less than two minutes and found Owens over the middle for another
eight-yard score. Collins connected with Dawkins for a 14-yard gain in the
waning seconds of the first half, but the Saints had to settle for Brien's
22-yard field goal that cut the deficit to 14-13.
"I did feel more comfortable," Collins added. "We felt we could throw
on them deep, but we did not capitalize on all of the opportunities. I
threw two picks, so I am as much to blame as anybody else around here."
"The kid (Collins) played his heart out. You couldn't ask him to do
anything more," Ditka said.
San Francisco began to break open the game on the first play of the
second half. Young rolled left to lure the safety, leaving Hearst wide
open on the right side of the field for his career-best 81-yard TD
reception. It was the longest pass play of the season for the Niners.
"That's just a miracle throw," Young said. "I was just looking back
side to see who was around and I saw Garrison behind them. They had left
him alone and he had gotten behind them, and it was just a big play."
After Dawkins fumbled again following a catch, Young hit Rice for a
touchdown to make it 28-13 with 11:54 left in the third quarter. Just over
six minutes later, Hearst's 27-yard run helped set up Richey's 45-yard
field goal.
San Francisco overcame 11 penalties for 125 yards by controlling the
ball for almost 35 minutes and converting 10-of-15 third-down plays.
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